Too Many Practical Jokes
by Fairia
Summary: The premise is Demyx, after stealing a secret formula of Vexen's, playing a joke on Axel that gets blown up out of proportion, literally. Larxene is in the middle of it, and a last appearence by Xigbar. So all their fans have a taste done my me. Please co


Too Many Practical Jokes

Vexen was hard at work in his laboratory in the inner regions of Castle Oblivion. He was the top scientist for the secret Organization XIII, Nobodies with their goal of finding hearts to become whole.

A couple of test beakers were boiling and frogs kept in cages waiting to be dissected as he was putting the finishing touches on a secret formula. It remained so that not even Xenmas was aware of what was exactly being made. He brushed aside a long strand of his dark blonde hair, eyes hard at work.

"Let's see now," The fourth member murmured to himself, "One more ingredient should keep the entire formula settled. Now where did I put that?" He stepped away from his table to go look for the final ingredient on another shelf.

Out from a pitch black of mist appeared a young man with darker blonde hair fashioned in a thin mullet, Number 9. His face had a permanent mischievous quality along his child-like smile.

"Hey, Vexen," the young man called. The sound of clashing and things dropping were heard.

"Demyx! How many times do I have to tell you?!" Vexen shouted.

"I know, I know," Demyx mocked. "Don't shout in the laBORatory."

Vexen proceeded to look through the shelves again.

"What is it that you want?"

"Do you have anything to eat by any chance here? The kitchen doesn't have anything."

Vexen growled. "What do I look like? A Chef?!"

"Sorry. Was just wondering? What this here?" His hand glides a little over the formula.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT." Vexen loud cry made Demyx jump. "That formula is very, very important and I appreciate it if you don't even go near it. It isn't finished yet."

"Okay, fine," Demyx scuffed. Although one not to listen, Demyx picked up the odd looking concoction before Vexen can turn around and disappeared into the black mist.

Inside the bright white den along on a slightly darker couch laid another young man asleep, this particular one with bright red hair in spikes and two tear drop tattoos under his eyes. He was fast asleep, quietly breathing in his own dreamland. Appearing out the black mist was Demyx, looking over Axel lying on the couch as if to double check if he was really asleep. With the recently stolen formula, he poured all of the formula, roughly half filled since he took it, into Axel's cup, watching it fizzle and swirl before the liquid became idle again. He giggled to himself as he phased into a nearby wall, back into the black hole.

A few minutes later, Axel woke up from his nap, rubbing the back of his neck. He nonchalantly took his cup and drank the remaining fluids. He gagged and coughed as he dropped some of his drink, the purplish liquid seeping into the carpet.

"Geez," he sputtered. "That's nasty! I know I didn't brew it that long." He coughed a little more and looked over at the new stain that formed a small lake. "Damn it! Now I gotta clean it up. That neat freak Xenmas will have my hide if he sees that." With the cup back on the glass table and just as he was about to get up, something came over him. His hands hugged his midsection, his teeth clenched as he brings himself to his knees. A pain throbbed at his stomach, pulling along at his muscles as the pain surged from his stomach, to his legs, biting at all of his leg muscles. It transferred up to his arms, until the pain suddenly went away. His hand clenched along the glass table as he supported himself back up, one hand still on his black cloak.

"What the hell was that," Axel asked quizzically.

It was then that a young woman, roughly Axel's age came in, short blonde hair with two strands positioned into antennas. Despite looking very young for her age, her personality bellied onto the sadistic side, as she spends her free time taunting the other members and causing as much mischief as she can being Number 12 in Organization XIII.

"What's wrong with you," her voice almost childish in tone, but staring at Axel in his odd position.

"That's what I wanna know, Larxy," Axel retorted.

"Ugh. It's Larxene, you moron!"

"Whatever."

Despite the members getting along poorly, Axel tolerated Larxene's attitude and uncaring nature. He strode past her though, hoping to find where the cleaning closet is located among the hallways. But then Larxene put her arm in front of him.

"Where exactly are you going?"

"Getting something to clean up that mess over there."

She spotted the area Axel was talking about and clicked her tongue.

"Better do so, Axel, or else it's your head."

"Don't you think I know that," grabbing her hand, squeezing it.

"Hey! Not so rough… now what?" She looked down at him; he was on his knees again, clutching his stomach and groaning. "Aww, what a time for a tummy ache," she mocked and tried to pick him up. "Did you gain weight or something? You're frickn' heavy."

"Shut up," Axel yelled before making another groan.

Before they reached the couch, Axel appeared to lean in closer to Larxene.

"Hey now! That's enough! Ow!" Larxene then pushed Axel off, shoving him onto the couch, but was stricken with shock at what she saw. His arms were sprawled along the back, Axel clenching through tight lips as it appeared that his body was changing. The sounds of his cloak and knee length boots stretched in agony, but grew along with him. Larxene stared at him as reached past six and a half feet. Even though his gritted his mouth, Axel didn't feel any pain as muscles, skin and bones stretched. The growth quickened faster; his behind taking up half of the couch's space and with little room to support it as he slid off it, wheeling the couch back as he landed with a thud.

With a loosened jaw, he cried, "What's going on here," his voice slightly deeper.

"Je…you're growing," Larxene gasped as she stepped back, in fear and trying to get a better look at him.

"I'm what?? This isn't funny!"

"Unless it means you're too stupid to see what's going on."

His anger quickened as much as his growth spurts, but as he looked around with the room becoming smaller each passing minute, he realizing she was right.

Demyx strolled into the den, whistling along as he sees Larxene looking dumbstruck.

"I know. Funny huh," he said, as if Larxene knew of his joke.

Larxene points up. "Uh yeah. Tell him that."

Demyx looked up and the smile disappeared from his face. By then, Axel was enlarged to 30 feet, not quite touching the ceiling, but took up 2/3 of the living space. Legs bent, his boots aligned the nearby wall, his large hands palm down on the floor.

"What was in that stuff Vexen was making," he wavered.

"That stuff that Vexen was making?" Axel echoed in a more irked tone. He looked over and saw a tiny Demyx next to Larxene. His large hand reached for the already frightened Demyx as he picked him up by his cloak collar between index and thumb and brought him up to his enormous angry face.

"So you were behind this," Axel roared.

Demyx shriveled in his grasp with terror. "Bbbut, this doesn't….Axe…I thought.. it was supposed to turn your tongue blue or, or break out or something…"

"Well, all it did was match his body along with his head, besides putting on some weight," Larxene added.

Even though Axel heard Larxene sarcastic quip, he turned his attention back to Demyx, who was squirming in his clasp.

"I'm really, really, really sorry Axel! I didn't know this was going to happen! Please don't kill me! Maybe Vexen can fix this…"

Axel then lower Demyx back down to the floor, his glare as bright as his element. "This better be fixed, Dumyx! Got it Memorized!!"

Demyx scrambles inside his black mist, heading for the laboratory. Larxene was left alone with Axel again, but only for a few more seconds. Demyx sheepishly ducked out of the mist.

"I heard Larxene said you gained weight," he foolishly asked.

Larxene bared her knives and growled at him, Demyx whipping out of sight again. She shucked them back into her robe and turned to the already ever present Axel, who was staring off at the wall in front of him, an annoyed and frustrated face asking "Why me?". To make matters worse, Axel could feel himself continue changing, becoming taller little by little, already reaching 33 feet high and inches away from the den's high ceiling. He didn't feel the stomach cramps like he did initially, but his limbs and bones were still elongating.

"Looks like it's just us, big red," Larxene cooed as she strolled, hands behind her coyly, moving against the slowly growing Number 8 of the Organization. "How are things "up" there?"

"Look," Axel began, "If all you're gonna do is joke about this, at least quip about Demyx's sorry ass the next time I see him."

"I wouldn't mind watching," Larxene smiled. "But, wow…" Her words already misplaced; being used to spouting malicious jibes didn't have the usual reaction she would expect from Axel. In fact, it was making it worse for him.

"'Wow' what," Axel almost barked.

"Nothing," Larxene checked her hearing, hoping she could still hear after Axel's enhanced vocals erupted.

"Well, why are you still here," he roared. "WHAT do you want?!"

"Geez. If you really had a heart, you'd get a coronary by now! Besides, I have every right to be in here as much as your bi…" Larxene stopped for a second, sighing hesitantly. "As much as you do."

"What's the matter, Larxy. Lost the nerve? That's not like you." Axel laid his palm outstretched, conjuring a small ball of rolling fire. "That might piss me off too."

Larxene jumped back, even though the fire ball was more than 20 feet from her head, her aura baring coarse lighting bolts.

Her own knives appeared, ready to attack the giant.

"Just because you grown a couple of shoe sizes, doesn't mean I can't take you down!"

From his own outstretched palm, Axel brandished a high trickling of open flames, roaring and raising higher. The fire seemed also to not burn through his gloves or him showing no pain; his smile more glaring behind the small bonfire. Larxene's knives slid quietly behind her fingers, heaving her shoulders.

"Forget it," she said ruefully dejected. "I'd be shish kabob anyway."

"And that I'm at number 8 while you….are near the bottom," Axel added, pleased with himself despite his current stature and situation.

"Whatever," Larxene said silently.

"What's a matter, Larxy? Giving up so soon?"

"NO!" Catching herself raising her voice, she tried to quiet down, regardless of how much anger she's seething. "What do you expect me to do? No way in Hell I can match _your_ size."

"Who said you had to? I didn't ask for this either."

It was then Axel's head started touching the ceiling of the white den, inching his red spiky hair further up before his top knocked into it harshly.

"Dammit," Axel cried out, trying to rub the spot. "Dumyx better convince Vexen to fix this!"

Demyx returned to the basement laboratory, only to be confronted immediately by Vexen, no more than a few inches away from him staring down at him and with a bigger scowl.

"You….took it, didn't _you_," he growled.

Then grabbed him by his arms, squeezing the flesh under the black sleeves and jamming into the adjacent wall, where glasses rattled and tiny bits of fungi, straws and powders fell onto the floor. Extra fungi fell upon Demyx like soft pelts.

Demyx stammered and explained, "Y-yeah, I did….and it…and it…"

"And it what? Tell me!"

"It…big…Axel…and…he…"

"Axel?" Vexen grabbed and squeezed his arms, near ready to shake him. "It worked then?!"

"W-was that…what it was…supposed to do!?"

"You fool! Do you have any idea how hard it was to retrieve the items from the Wonderland world without any detection?"

"You mean…the mushrooms?" Demyx changed from babbling fear to disgust. "You ended up making liquid mushrooms?" He gagged and felt his stomach about to churn.

"Exactly…. but never mind that! _I_ will create an antidote; _you_ bring Axel to where I can perform it. Assuming it hasn't gotten worse."

"Worse," Demyx echoed.

"As I mentioned before and you foolishly ignored it, another ingredient would've made it stable. Meaning: the subject would not grow any further than whatever the amount they were given."

"So…." Demyx pointed to nowhere, an assumed direction that indicated Axel, "He's gonna keep on growing?"

"Exactly. Now you understand."

"But where _can_ he go?"

Vexen pondered for a moment, wondering where among the castle is efficient for the situation. Then he realized where.

"Get him into the Dark Dimension, no fear of damage. And let me take care of what to do with him next. Bring him there and you might be forgiven."

"Really?"

Vexen magically brought out his ice tear drop and spike shaped shield. "_Maybe_."

Demyx fled into the dark portal. Vexen then returned to his table, getting to work on antidote using exotic nuts, the one item he was looking for earlier.

"This is insane. Even for Vexen," Larxene replied after a minute of silence. She was thinking out loud why Vexen concocted a solution like this. She kept saying how every member in the organization has their own unique powers and NoBodies to control. What good is it to enlarge someone if it proves no use, but as a nuisance?

"Well, look on the bright side, lightning bug," Axel said. "It helps the vertically challenged. And you could stand a couple of inches yourself."

"_You_ could stand a couple of extra brain cells, Firefly," Larxene retorted back.

An eerie wave interrupted them again as Demyx stepped out of the dark mist. He looked just as nervous as when he first saw Axel crowding the den, but now Axel was a little bigger, and Demyx just caught sight of another wave of slow growth that threatened to darken the back of the area. Larxene turned to him; her sudden stare was like a glass plate cracked cleaned in a perfect line.

"Well, what's the verdict," Her patience already nonexistent.

"Uh, well…" Demyx stumbled. "All he said was… that… that he was gonna work on it… because… it needs to be done quickly," finishing with a question that even perplexed him. If it was possible, giant sweat drops would protrude from Axel and Larxene's heads.

"Then, _when_ will he be _finished_," Axel irately implied.

"He just said to…. go to the Dark Dimension…"

"What does _that_ have to do with _anything_?!"

The room temperature rose and transformed into a blazing ethereal pit, all the more conflagrant with the white interior.

Larxene jumped in with, "Cool it down, Axel! The heat frizzes up my hair!" The temperature simmered down.

"Why would Axel go to the Dark Dimension, Dumyx? To hide himself from embarrassment?" She caught her eye on something, as she plucked a small grey mushroom clinging among Demyx's hood tassel. "What's this?"

"What," Demyx asked, unsure where she was taking the conversation. "That? That thing's been on me??"

"I never saw such a mushroom before," her noting the white and black spots that blotched the "hood" of the fungi. Her thumb and index finger twirled the stem, thinking of what to do with it as her face cracked a wicked smile. "This wouldn't have to be the mushrooms that came from that Wonderland world, would it?"

"He. . mentioned it," Demyx, hot under the collar, responded with agitation.

"Mentioned it? As in, what he was experimenting on?"

"…"

"As in, this type of mushroom, if I remember correctly, causes those that eat it to grow out of control?"

"…"

"And…what would happen if even eating this little, itty bitty morsel do to that person?"

"…"

"Dammit, Demyx! Say something!" Larxene then shoved the grey mushroom into his throat; forcing it with her hand as Demyx gagged from the semi-tiny piece slipping through his throat. A couple of coughs later, he grabbed the cup on the coffee table to wash the taste down. Only to gag again realizing it tasted like puree mushrooms that was the concoction he slipped to Axel.

He began to feel the change the way Axel felt, except his hands stretched first, then his feet, until his body decided to join and stretch along. Somehow with swallowing the mushroom combined with the rest of the formula was causing Demyx to grow quicker; within a few seconds he was surpassed 15 feet. Larxene scooted out of the way when Demyx's left foot shifted and stamped where she once stood.

"This is stupid," she muttered to herself and disappeared into the dark hole. This left the two Nobodies in a compromising situation; Axel already too large to even kneel inside the den and Demyx rocketing against the ceiling, causing him to wince. More sudden growth forced him to sit, his legs pushing against Axel, who was fuming over bending his neck sideways with his shoulders against the ceiling. All the while, Demyx became frightened over his dilemma. He didn't want this happening to him.

Demyx then thought of teleport himself just after he finished growing. He tumbled into a dark portal behind his hand with any thought, leaving more breathing room for Axel, who finally saw an opportunity to escape, fleeing to the portal open and leaping inside.

Another dark mist opened up and marched out from it a very annoyed Larxene.

"Vexen," she called out, eyeing the empty lab. "We got ourselves a situation here! There are two idiots that are now two _giant_ idiots!"

"So now it's two of them you say," came a deep voice.

Larxene jumped by the sound, discovering, about 20 feet up stood Vexen, now gigantic himself and carefully adding a microscopic item to an extremely small vial of some sort, at least to Larxene's viewpoint.

"Oh, don't tell me you're in this too," she cried out, forgetting the two Organization giants and dumbfounded by another one.

"Not so," Vexen replied without turning away from his work. "I needed to test the formula. And unfortunately, everyone else in the castle is either gone or not available. So I had to experiment on myself. But, I am close to finding an antidote."

"And to think you weren't doing this to show authority," Larxene quipped.

"You hold your tongue," Vexen bellowed down. With the preparation complete, Vexen downed his antidote formula. Immediately, the antidote took affect, as Vexen quickly shrank away, and just as quick to return to his normal size. Larxene stood dumbstruck, more so than when she saw Axel expand the opposite way.

She snapped out of her stupor, just as Vexen was about to approach her.

"Look at that," she fancily replied. "You actually got something done on time and right!"

Vexen snapped back, "I said hold your tongue, Number 12. But the only way for the formula to work now is in gaseous form. I want you to go to where they are now…."

"Hold on! You said it can only work in gaseous form, how am I gonna do that?"

"I was about to get to that issue. I made this vial to be in a gaseous state, making it easier for the antidote to spread. And unless you want to be a couple of inches in size, you're forewarned not to breathe in any of it.

If one stumbled upon a place called the Dark Dimension, it was an area that wasn't dark at all. One entry way starts with soft reds and following into softer yellows and white before reaching the "end" of the dimensions to dark blue. The Organization's symbol, a heart with a line and dart at the bottom, evenly flowed either up or down depending on where you watch the formations. Various creatures known as Nobodies without a human form slinked along the area, all white and silver, pointed feet and long pointed stabs for arms and hands. This is where they go to guard the Dimensions from anyone who stumbles upon such a place.

But there was a formation now that were dark; open black mists appear, larger than what a member normally opens to, and out stumbles Demyx who half-rolled and balanced along his bent knee. Axel appeared afterwards, his hands burning around his black gloves. When Demyx regained the aspect of the situation, he lifted himself up, more ceiling room than the den could hold. He looked down at himself, realizing the symbols and Nobodies were smaller as well as the entry and escape ports of the Dimension. Looking at his hands, he flipped them over as if in awe of such limbs existing. It was then he let out a small sob, which became progressive and painful. He cried bullet sized tears, bombarding the white creatures and whizzing deaths from above, as the salty waters ingest their bodies, disappearing in wispy black particles. Demyx sobbed louder, wiping his sorrowful eyes.

"Knock off the water works, ya baby," Axel's shrill and brutish voice interrupted Demyx's crying. "What are you trying to do, drown us?"

Demyx wiped his wet eyes and looked back at Axel.

"This was not supposed to happen," Demyx choked. "Damn, I could never pull off a prank like you do," Referring to Axel.

"And there's a reason for that," Axel retorted. "_You_ don't have the spine to do it. You don't have the sly, cunning nature as I do. Got it memorized," pointing at his temple before he returned to point in a mocking fashion as he continued. "And you're now bigger than Lexaeus, but you can't _even_ take a few new inches on you."

Demyx was about to cry again, but he choked back on his words for a moment. He started to speak again, but still with difficulty. "But…I don't _want_ to be big!" He once again tried to hold back.

"Well, neither did I, so now we're both screwed, aren't we?"

From his outstretched hands, Axel held a stance. Black streams and red flames engulfed his arms and circled down to his hand. Bursts of more ethereal flames emitted, crackling into two eight pointed chakrams, painted red along the sides. Silver circles intertwined inside the outer circle. Knowing Axel was looking for a fight, Demyx in return sprouted a sheet of crystal water around himself. A large round droplet erupted into a water-shaped sitar, bright blue and white shaped into the symbol of the Organization.

"If you want to be hot-headed about it, Axel," Demyx responded with a resounding voice, "Then come get some. Cause you know what they say," continuing as he strummed the string, "The bigger they are…"

Before finishing his retort, two streaming chakrams on fire zipped over his head. He dropped his sitar to duck, almost smoldering his hair.

"Ah, the hell, forget this!" Strumming his sitar harder, a sprinkler of water in five rows cascaded toward Axel, who quickly pulled up a thin shield of red blaze to evaporate the water missiles. "No fair! You're only one rank form me!" Demyx pursed his lips in anger.

"But fire beats water, Dumyx," Axel mockingly snapped.

When Demyx tried to make liquid illusions of himself, Axel swiped them away like paper curtains and fireballs were cooled by thick walls of water plastered in front of Demyx. Their fight waged on, the smaller Nobody Dusks evaporation just as quickly, death by either a fiery demise or a wet downfall.

Larxene magically appeared from her portal, just as a giant ash ball crashed four feet from her. She held the vial close to her when she grasped away from the charcoaled ball. She grunted a "For crying out loud" in her sneer, but her tone changed when she looked up and at the battle. She stared in awe as the two were like fierce gods, dueling and massacring each other, leaving large wreckage in their wrath.

"All right, let's get this over with," She muttered to herself. She aimed the vials right in between where fire and water mix like oil pastels, hoping their fighting breaks the vials right away. With a précised target, she lunges the vials into the air. The vials flipped in perpendicular motion, crinkling into the wet conflagration and poofing into a small cloud of lavender that steadily grew. The cloud became a thick mass, spreading along the "ceiling" until it even covered the colossuses and obstructed Larxene's sublevel view.

The smoke started clearing, thinning away to reveal the "ceiling" gone of the two Nobodies. Larxene grudging thought that Vexen ended up making a formula that would make the two disappear. She then reconsidered her response, as the smoke completely cleared and right in her field of the vision. Demyx and Axel coughed and gagged from any excess powder and waving their hands in the air.

"Mission Accomplished. Egos reverted," Larxene wiped her hands in a fit of satisfaction with herself.

Later that day, The Superior, despite hearing what happened to numbers 8 and 9 punished Axel and Demyx for attempting to demolish the Castle interior, even though nothing happened anywhere except in the Dark Dimension. They were ordered to repaint the den walls and clean the entire carpet from side to side. Demyx felt himself wasting his own water to lighten the deep imbedded brown spot by the couch, but Axel was the only one with a roller brush and a can of pure heart white paint.

Larxene returned to see how the two were doing.

"I guess now would've been a good time to be bigger again, huh," she remarked, but the boys ignored her. "Besides, it was all for the best. Can you imagine how hard it would be to care _of_ a giant, let alone _two_? They eat everything, the rooms are too cramped to sleep in, their clothes don't fit… but we wear our black anyway, so that's no problem. And not mention bathing; it would stink to high hell, but to try and reach those hard to…."

"ALL RIGHT, WE GET IT," Axel roared over his shoulder, before grinding the brush along the walls.

Larxene sighed and pouted, knowing they were mad than ever at her. Not that she cared either way. Yet, there was something bothering her, and it didn't help when Axel just shouted at her. As hot-headed and cocky as Axel was, she can be just as so. She walked over to Axel, kicking a wash bucket filled with dirty water; Demyx stifled an angry growl. She grabbed another clean roller brush and dunked the sponge in. Axel looked over at her.

"What are you think you're doing," he jumped, "You didn't get in trouble."

"Yeah, well…" Larxene fumbled a little, not wanting to sound like some goody-goody but didn't want to see Axel doing this by himself. She knew Axel was frustrated when he grew taller beyond his control and she believed being with him at that moment helped eased the aggravation. She thought letting him blow off smoke and fire would help him calm down, but he was still upset. Helping him out would make him less cranky later.

"We all use the den, so we should finish this up." She hid a weak smile.

"Yeah, whatever," Axel hid his own smirk.

As Axel commented that it would've been easier to paint at least 10 feet tall, Demyx reapplied the soak brush onto the wet carpet, talking to himself, "I need new pointers from Xiggy."

Epilogue

"Uuhhh, my head," moaned a voice from the covered bed. The bed spread draped away and Xigbar, the second highest Organization member of an eye patch and a long scar across his left cheek, woke up with a hangover, resting his head on his hand as he grabbed a hand mirror. His tongue was a thick black coating, but in the light, he mistook it for his black and grey streaked hair. Upon lifting his legs over the bed, he got up, still in his black cloak from the previous night of drinking, but he bumped into something that made his headache worse. His head nudged against the ceiling of his room, estimating that he was 10 feet high.

Unaware again of his condition, his groggy voice curtly replied, "I don't remember having bunk beds."


End file.
